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Monday, 13 May 2013

Water Closet @ Bristol Comic Expo 2013

Water Closet Press is pleased to report that we had a delightful time at the Bristol Comic Expo this past weekend. This
was our second time at Bristol and, while we did enjoy last
year (despite some mixed reviews from fellow exhibitors and attendees),
this year was better by far. We
more than doubled our sales (more of a testament to the fact that we came out with a
second issue since then than our skills as snake oil salesmen), and it was really encouraging to have people who picked up Ladies
& Gentlemen #1 last year mention that they had been looking forward
to getting the sequel. One kind gentlemen even bought some pages of original art!

The historic Brunel Old Station was a fitting setting to sell the Victorian-themed L&G. The atmosphere was relaxed and friendly, and we got the distinct feeling that the comics present were the comics that
everybody in the room were reading anyway; that we were all in it
together, were all part of something.

Our
evening activities on Saturday consisted mainly of being serenaded by a
mono-toothed Sinatra-singing geezer who staggered over to the table
we were sitting at in an Irish pub. It
was quite endearing at first, but soon turned in to more of a hostage
situation by the fourth or fifth time he sang the apt lyrics
“Please release me, let me go.” Then, perhaps inevitably, he turned out
to be a wee bit
racist, so that was the end o’ that.

Sunday
proved to be the nicest day of the two, providing us with a chance to
go and meet a whole bunch of other creators and confirm our theory that
Stuart Gould of UK Comics, who prints our books, is in fact
single-handedly running the entire British comics scene. We chatted with
(and swapped books with) a whole bunch of folks who are increasingly becoming the pillars of the Small Press,
including but not limited to:

The conglomerate of lovely chaps generating the eternal feedback-loop that is LOU SCANNON / THE PRIDE / STIFFS; the wonderfully embeardened and bubbly RAZARHAWKS duo (I was drawn!) ; the master anthologists of the DISCONNECTED PRESS; Mark Pearce, responsible for the maniacally hilarious RONIN DOGS (and the TMNT poster to my left); Owen Watts and his many comic-fingers in many comic-pies; Andrew Scaife and his debut comic NEW YORK PARK; and Jon Lock of the glorious AFTERLIFE INC.
Not to mention all the other folks who were kind enough to stop by our
cramped little table and chew the fat about comics. Thanks to you all for your interest and support.

Whewph! All in one fantastic weekend.

NOTE:
Despite us not appearing on the list of exhibitors on their website
(silly us), don't forget that we will indeed have a table at the
upcoming MCM LONDON COMIC CON on the Saturday and Sunday, May 25-26th.
Hope to see lots of new faces, and some of those faces we met in
Bristol!